This invention relates to security seals, and more particularly, to molded plastic seals with elongated shackles extending from a flag and including a locking socket at the junction of the flag and shackle for receiving and locking the shackle thereto.
Thermoplastic molded security seals are in wide use. One type of such seal includes an elongated shackle, with or without teeth, extending from a flag, which is a flat sheet material element for receiving indicia such as a bar code, manufacturer identity, serial numbers and so on. These flags are some times referred to as tags. A locking socket extends from the flag at a region adjacent to the shackle junction. The socket has a cavity in which locking tangs are located for engaging the shackle to lock the shackle thereto when inserted in one direction, the tangs precluding withdrawal of the shackle in the opposite direction. Some locking sockets have metal inserts with the locking tangs formed therein. Other sockets are molded thermoplastic with the tangs molded one piece with the socket body, flag and shackle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,506,415 (""415), 5,24,945 (""945) and 5,337,503 (""503) illustrate some of these type of flag seals, all incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The ""503 and ""945 patents show the flags with bar code indicia printed thereon. In order to print the indicia on the flag, the flag is made relatively flat and smooth (It has some slight texture to permit inkjet printing) to provide a printing surface for the indicia. Since the flag is thermoplastic material it can be relatively slippery to grasp, the printing texture being insufficient to provide additional gripping friction. In these type of seals the shackle is passed through the locking socket and is pulled through as much as possible to tighten the loop formed by the shackle and locking socket about an article being sealed.
For example, such seals may be used to seal mail bags as illustrated in the ""415 patent, FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, for example, the seal flag is shown extending in one direction and the free end of the shackle is extending generally in the opposite direction. To tighten the seal about the mouth of the bag, the shackle is manually grasped with one hand and the flag is grasped with the other hand.
When it is desired to open the seal, the flag is grasped and pulled. The shackle has one or more weakening regions formed by grooves so that when the flag is pulled, the seal is supposed to break at a weakened region. This is not always easy to do as the flag is slippery and difficult to provide a sufficiently high tensile load thereon in order to break the seal.
The present invention is a recognition of this problem and is directed to provide a solution. A seal according to the present invention comprises a locking socket including a body having a locking cavity and locking tangs in the cavity. A flag is secured to and extends from the socket in a first direction and a locking is shackle secured to at least one of the socket and flag and extends in a second direction opposite the first direction. A finger grip is attached to at least one of the flag and socket to enhance finger grasping of the seal.
In one aspect, the finger grip comprises a finger receiving loop member.
In a further aspect, the flag lies in a plane, the finger grip comprising a loop member having a normal acquiescent position coplanar with the flag. Preferably, the finger grip is a loop molded one piece thermoplastic integral with the seal.
In a further aspect, the finger grip comprises a loop member of circular cross section. Preferably, the flag has a periphery in the region extending from the socket, the loop member extending about the periphery coplanar with the flag. Preferably the finger grip is flexible to enable finger gripping.
In a further aspect, the flag is flexible so it can be flexed to grip the finger grip.
In a still further aspect, the finger grip is a grip enhancing projection. Preferably the projection is arranged so that it can be manually gripped and pulled on in the first direction while the shackle is manually gripped and pulled on in the second direction. Preferably the loop has a smooth surface with no protrusions thereon.